Tweets:

Today, I updated the Snowy Owl records. This update turned out to be
more time-consuming than planned. On Wednesday evening, feeling proud
of myself for having input the record backlog before Thanksgiving, I
gave a GIS command that effectively erased all the data (Example of the
Arc/Info motto: We don't forgive mistakes colliding with the Cassidy
motto: Why waste time making backups?) Eeek!

Well, after spending a good part of my vacation re-inputting Snowy Owl
records, with numerous backups, I am once again caught up on records.
The new map is on the web site.

This time, I've displayed the map with the steppe zones, low-elevation
interior west side zones ('Puget-Willamette Trough') and coastal Sitka
Spruce zones shaded to show the relationship between owl records and
vegetation zone. The owls records are scattered fairly evenly,
considering observer bias, across the steppe zones, but are definitely
concentrated on the coast in the west-side zones. I don't think the
coastal concentration is entirely due to observer bias because, as
others have noted, there are no records from the Bellvue-Kirkland-
Issaquah area, which has plenty of observers.

As for a perceived decline in owl numbers, there has definitely been a
decline of owls seen in cities, but there are still high numbers at
less developed coastal sites. Bob Norton sent me an email with the
observation that, at Big Ditch on 11/24/96, his group was able to find 4 to
7 owls (his guess was probably 5 individuals), with some searching. They
quit before they had searched the entire area. Perhaps the apparent
decrease in numbers is due to a combination of factors:

1. Owls that stumbled into the cities (Whoa, I don't remember the
tundra being anything like this!) have moved to more suitable habitats
with more open space for hunting and fewer pesky crows.
2. The owls are spacing themselves out better, now that they have presumably
stopped moving south, making it harder to see large numbers in a small
areas.
3. Attrition due to starvation of birds exhuasted from the journey or
in poor condition at the end of summer, plus the usual random causes (road
kill, etc.) is taking its toll.

Kelly Cassidy